In many areas of manufacturing, including drink bottling and food processing plants, conveyors are used to move containers such as bottles, jars, cans, and the like between locations. In order to maintain line efficiency, keep the containers and conveyor parts clean, and provide lubrication, it is customary to use a lubricant, typically an aqueous, soap-based or synthetic lubricant. These lubricants are generally sold as concentrates designed to be heavily diluted prior to or during use. For example, a typical dilution ratio might be 1:100 or even greater.
Unfortunately, these conventional lubricants present certain disadvantages. For example, due to the heavy dilution, these lubricants tend to drip from the surfaces onto which they are coated, creating a safety hazard in plants and requiring constant clean-up efforts. In addition, the conventional lubricants typically require frequent or constant reapplication which adds to the cost and inefficiency of the lubricating process. Known lubricants are frequently incompatible with containers and/or conveyor parts. For example, many commercially available lubricants cause stress cracking in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles.
Thus a need exists for a conveyor lubricant that is cost effective and efficient to apply and reapply, and is compatible with containers and conveyor parts.